Is it ever acceptable for a teacher to throw out a student's food?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a question where the circumstances matter.

If my child is eating in class, and it is not time to be eating, then I expect and support the teacher in requiring my child to turn over the food to be thrown away or for the teacher to require that my child get up and throw away the food. If my child leaves food in a desk or in a cubbie and it is perishable food then, again, yes, the teacher should throw it away.

Give some background, OP, otherwise I think you're just trying to stir up trouble and pick a fight with your kid's teacher.

I disagree with the bolded. If the student is eating at an inappropriate time, then by all means make the kid go and put it away/back in their bag/in their lunchbox, but why would you insist that it be thrown away?

Kid could be hungry - why is that a crime? I remember that when I was a kid we were supposed to only eat at certain times but I was always growing fast (5'8" by 5th grade) and I was always starving. Sometimes to the point of being uncomfortable. I was rail thin too (like 5'8" and 95 lbs). What would punishing me have been good for?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a student who was a diabetic and refused to take his medication.

I've taken candies and cookies out of his hand and thrown them out after watching him go into diabetic shock in the hallway. (middle schooler)

His mother complained to the school once...but stopped when we (teachers) told her that her son isn't taking his medication during the school day (the entire grade level team was made aware) and that we are trying our best to keep her from having to pick him up from a hospital vs at school at the end of the day due to his poor decision making skills.

Diabetic shock that comes on suddenly is caused by low blood sugar, not high. You could have killed this child.

How can you have known that he wasn't taking his medication (do you mean insulin?) without the mother knowing. It would have been a violation of federal law for the nurse to tell you, and a violation of ethics for the nurse not to tell the mom.

A kid with diabetes is going to need a detailed action plan, not teachers playing vigilante in the hallway.

Yeah - geez!!!! Your ignorance is huge here, lady.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a middle schooler who knew he/she was breaking the rule? Teacher absolutely should have thrown out food to make a point. You should be upset with your child for being so disrespectful in school.

Thanks. I am OP and actually the teacher in the scenario. I threw out food twice this week (only times it's happened this whole school year).

Student 1 has a history of eating in many classes, knows it's not permitted, does no classwork, gets detention, no interventions have helped.

Student 2 has not done it before but knows it's against the rules, and has had other regular disrespectful behavior/ challenging me in the classroom.

No, I don't have any large scale classroom management issues. Thankfully, this week was an anomaly. At least one of the times was after lunch, and I wouldn't have done it if it was a hunger situation or lunch food (they were small bags of chips).

You sound judgemental to the point of ignorance. Kids grow at different rates and have different needs than you. They might be annoying kids but please remember that they are kids and not adults. For whatever reason they are hungry and you should put a little more thought and compassion into your thinking here besides 'classroom management'.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mother of several current and former middle schoolers here. My children had a very late lunch during middle school, and were starving by the time they finally got to eat. In addition, my sons grew about 8 to 12 inches during middle school, and were constantly hungry, seemingly starving, by the time they got home from school. I also wish the school would be more accommodating about quietly eating snacks during the day.

If you worked in a school with rats like mine, you'd change your tune. I am leaving now because the rats come out after the building being totally quiet for about 30 mins. These are rats, not mice. We now have a policy where nobody is allowed to eat anywhere except the cafeteria and the faculty lounge.

Where is this? Those rats must be eating something in the school to be thriving there - I'd worry a lot about the cafeteria food.
Also, kids could get sick from rat droppings - rats go EVERYWHERE. Why doesn't your school actually fully fix the rat problem?
And by fully fix I don't mean putting out a few bait boxes and securing food.

Let me guess - the parents aren't aware of this problem..

[Anonymous]

When we were growing up, we weren't allowed to eat in class. I don't know why kids today think it should be different for them. There's a time to learn and a time to eat. And frankly, one kid eating is a distraction to the other kids. I'm with the teachers on this one.

[Anonymous]

OP again. As I said repeatedly, I have allowed students to finish breakfast before class and have a snack for classes with longer waits before lunch.

One of the students in question was hiding non-lunch food directly after lunch, and the other did not have longer lengths between classes. The problem is not just the eating but hiding and directly defying rules. This sets a tone for expectations and behavior in the class that I do not want to welcome.

However, I see there are various opinions regarding this, and I will go over expectations with my classes now and early in the year in the future.

[Anonymous]

Even in middle school, I would never throw a child's food away that was still edible. Someone paid money for that and clearly the child was hungry. Why not make them put it away? So, when it comes time for lunch, what are they going to eat? Aren't they still going to be hungry?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a student who was a diabetic and refused to take his medication.

I've taken candies and cookies out of his hand and thrown them out after watching him go into diabetic shock in the hallway. (middle schooler)

His mother complained to the school once...but stopped when we (teachers) told her that her son isn't taking his medication during the school day (the entire grade level team was made aware) and that we are trying our best to keep her from having to pick him up from a hospital vs at school at the end of the day due to his poor decision making skills.

Diabetic shock that comes on suddenly is caused by low blood sugar, not high. You could have killed this child.

How can you have known that he wasn't taking his medication (do you mean insulin?) without the mother knowing. It would have been a violation of federal law for the nurse to tell you, and a violation of ethics for the nurse not to tell the mom.

A kid with diabetes is going to need a detailed action plan, not teachers playing vigilante in the hallway.

I'll tell you how we knew--we'd send him to the nurse to take his meds and we'd get phone calls twenty minutes later asking where was said student. We'd ask said student if he went to see the nurse and he refused. Once we told Mom what he was doing...she was LIVID. The next grade had the same issue--he was deliberately eating things he wasn't supposed to be eating. It was well known throughout the school to keep an eye out on said kid because he was refusing his meds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I had a student who was a diabetic and refused to take his medication.

I've taken candies and cookies out of his hand and thrown them out after watching him go into diabetic shock in the hallway. (middle schooler)

His mother complained to the school once...but stopped when we (teachers) told her that her son isn't taking his medication during the school day (the entire grade level team was made aware) and that we are trying our best to keep her from having to pick him up from a hospital vs at school at the end of the day due to his poor decision making skills.

Diabetic shock that comes on suddenly is caused by low blood sugar, not high. You could have killed this child.

How can you have known that he wasn't taking his medication (do you mean insulin?) without the mother knowing. It would have been a violation of federal law for the nurse to tell you, and a violation of ethics for the nurse not to tell the mom.

A kid with diabetes is going to need a detailed action plan, not teachers playing vigilante in the hallway.

I'll tell you how we knew--we'd send him to the nurse to take his meds and we'd get phone calls twenty minutes later asking where was said student. We'd ask said student if he went to see the nurse and he refused. Once we told Mom what he was doing...she was LIVID. The next grade had the same issue--he was deliberately eating things he wasn't supposed to be eating. It was well known throughout the school to keep an eye out on said kid because he was refusing his meds.

You'd send him to the nurse, he wouldn't show up, and the nurse didn't notify parents? You just happened to tell her later?

Why wasn't a 504 plan meeting convened? Why wasn't his diabetes action plan changed so that the nurse called home each day to report whether he came?

And how did you know, at the moment you took the food out of his hands that that wasn't the day he took his insulin?

Your story is getting more and more alarming.

[Anonymous]

Im a student and at lunch i brought hot Cheetos a sandwich yogurt and a granola bar and the teachers announced the same day as i had hot cheetos were now not aloud to have them and they said if we had them they would take them away so the next day i was late to school and everyone in the office was talking and saying what they should do if we had them one said " If we see someone with them we should take them away and eat them in front of them and then post on face book who wants hot cheetos now" another said "we should throw them away" they were say this while my mother was standing there my mom was confused and was about to say something but long story short i think shouldnt be able to do any of that for no reason but if there making a mess they should just take it away and give it back. also this was all happening in lunch which these teachers make no sense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Eh! I remember way back in school also eating sometimes during class. It was not allowed, so I'd sneak it in. I was hungry!!!! Super hungry! Kids get through growth spurts, especially in middle school. If the teacher threw food away because student was eating at not allocated time, I would be angry. He / she did not earn, prepare or pack that food to throw it away. I did. Tell the student to put it away, call parents or whatever, but don't throw away my money and labor.

+1.

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Im a student and at lunch i brought hot Cheetos a sandwich yogurt and a granola bar and the teachers announced the same day as i had hot cheetos were now not aloud to have them and they said if we had them they would take them away so the next day i was late to school and everyone in the office was talking and saying what they should do if we had them one said " If we see someone with them we should take them away and eat them in front of them and then post on face book who wants hot cheetos now" another said "we should throw them away" they were say this while my mother was standing there my mom was confused and was about to say something but long story short i think shouldnt be able to do any of that for no reason but if there making a mess they should just take it away and give it back. also this was all happening in lunch which these teachers make no sense.[/quote]

Pretty sure its not an issue for the OP anymore as the kid in question is in high school.....This is a 3yr old thread.....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:With a middle schooler who knew he/she was breaking the rule? Teacher absolutely should have thrown out food to make a point. You should be upset with your child for being so disrespectful in school.

Thanks. I am OP and actually the teacher in the scenario. I threw out food twice this week (only times it's happened this whole school year).

Student 1 has a history of eating in many classes, knows it's not permitted, does no classwork, gets detention, no interventions have helped.

Student 2 has not done it before but knows it's against the rules, and has had other regular disrespectful behavior/ challenging me in the classroom.

No, I don't have any large scale classroom management issues. Thankfully, this week was an anomaly. At least one of the times was after lunch, and I wouldn't have done it if it was a hunger situation or lunch food (they were small bags of chips).

You sound judgemental to the point of ignorance. Kids grow at different rates and have different needs than you. They might be annoying kids but please remember that they are kids and not adults. For whatever reason they are hungry and you should put a little more thought and compassion into your thinking here besides 'classroom management'.

If your child cannot make it through the day without eating, get a note from your doctor requesting that your child be allowed to go to the Office to eat their healthy (protein, fat and carb) snack at the same time each day until their growth spurt is over. A bag of chips anytime the kid wants is not a solution that is good for your teenager’s self control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Middle schooler eating during class, clearly trying to hide food.

Curious what others think, and if it would change your opinion if it had been done before, student reprimanded, etc.

The teacher was right. Are you the parent or teacher?

[Anonymous]

[quote=Anonymous]Im a student and at lunch i brought hot Cheetos a sandwich yogurt and a granola bar and the teachers announced the same day as i had hot cheetos were now not aloud to have them and they said if we had them they would take them away so the next day i was late to school and everyone in the office was talking and saying what they should do if we had them one said " If we see someone with them we should take them away and eat them in front of them and then post on face book who wants hot cheetos now" another said "we should throw them away" they were say this while my mother was standing there my mom was confused and was about to say something but long story short i think shouldnt be able to do any of that for no reason but if there making a mess they should just take it away and give it back. also this was all happening in lunch which these teachers make no sense.[/quote]

What grade are you in?